Federated States of Micronesia

We haven't been out to any Oceania countries (now we only have one left in Papua New Guinea!), so here we are at  the Federated States of Micronesia. 

First, lets clear something up the Federated States of Micronesia shouldn't be confused with region of Micronesia (even though it is part of that region). 

Pacific Island Countries have been traditionally grouped along racial and cultural lines as Melanesia (black islands), Micronesia (small islands) and Polynesia (many islands). I broke the whole thing down further last May in another blog. 

The Micronesia region consists of countries like Palau, the Marshall Islands,  Kiribati, the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam and the Federated States of Micronesia. 

Now, notice the flag of Micronesia and those four stars (the white stars out in the blue ocean, I presume?) Well, that's because the Federate States of Micronesia is made up of four, otherwise unrelated island states. From west to east, they are: Yap, Chuuk, Pohnpei, and Kosrea. 

Together the four island states contain around 600 islands, but each state offer their own traditions, cultures, and highlights. 

Yap is the most traditional of all the islands. Centuries ago, people living in Yap used rai as their currency. Rai were giant rocks carved out of limestone with holes in the middle. They were so big and heavy, though, sometimes they'd be impossible to move- so they rarely left their resting spots. Instead, everyone just knew what giant rock belonged to who. 

Heading west, our next island state is Chuuk. Chuuk is best known for it's wreck diving. Over 60 warships and 200 planes sit in the world's largest battleship graveyard at the bottom of Chuuk lagoon. Much of the wreckage was sunk in 1944 over a period of three days in a battle between the Japanese and the US Air Force. Cargo, tanks, bullets, bombs, and even skeletons can be seen while diving. 

Moving further west is Pohnpei, which is known for it's ancient ruins. The most famous  is the ruined  city of Nan Madol. This place is made up of 92 man-made islands, and is the city is the only one in the world built on top of coral reefs. Since all of the ruins are connected by twisting canals, it's often called 'the Venice of the Pacific'. 

Pohnpei is also home to the capital of the Federated States of Micronesia, Palikir, and our landmark. 

The Pohnpei Montane Cloud Forrest is one of the lower elevation cloud forests in the world, starting at a height of 1,475 feet. Because of their frequent low-level cloud cover, usually at the canopy level, these forests are also, sometimes called 'fog-forest'. 

Continuing on to the east, Kosrea, sometimes called the 'Caroline islands' is a pacific paradise with arguably the best and most beautiful beaches. It is becoming a destination for hikers and divers. The reefs are largely untouched, and contain miles of hard corals, some said to be thousands of years old. Dense vegetation and steep mountains keep the island largely undeveloped. 

All of these island states take up about 1 million square miles of the vast Pacific ocean. But if you grouped it all together in one landmass it wouldn't even crack 300 square miles. All together, it's about the size of Singapore. 

Also, one last fun fact for you: Nauru, Kiribati, Palau, the Marshall Islands, and the Federated States of Micronesia, do all get together for their own Micronesian Olympics every four years. This year is an Olympic year, and Olympians will be competing in events like basketball, beach volleyball, wrestling, swimming, canoeing, fishing, and even coconut-tree climbing! This year the Olympics being on July 15th -27th in Yap! I'm setting a google reminder. Also, go to that website. It's super fun! You wouldn't want to miss the Table Tennis Coaching Training and Certification in February. 

The boys made their Federated States of Micronesia postcards. 

Calib included the Chuukese love-stick tradition in his, where a guy carves two sticks- one small for his hair, and a matching large one to poke through the hut of the girl he likes. If she pulls on the stick, she likes him. If she pushes it back, sorry guys. 

Peyton put the big building on Pohnpei for the capital city of Palikir. 

Hayden did a look from above with the shipwrecks just over the coast of Chuuk. 

For Micronesia lunch we had Chicken Kelaguen, a simple dish with chicken  (although you can use seafood) marinated in lemon with coconut and scallions added in. It  was topped with Finadene sauce. We served ours with tortilla chips, although usually tortillas are just heated on a grill. 

This meal earned two spoons up. 

That is a little deceiving though, because nobody hated it. 

Calib and I didn't mind it, but we did feel like it was missing something. I don't know what it was, it just seemed kind of plain for me. (Although Calib and mine lacked the really spicy peppers- since we don't do heat.) 

Asa and Hayden loved this one. They ate the whole plate of the spicy version. They said it was pretty uneven though. One scoop on the chip and you'd be dying, and another you could hardly detect the spice. 

Peyton said it was just ok. I think he would have preferred it to be even spicier! 

We denoted the four main island groups in Micronesia that span from dark purple Palau to light blue Marshall Islands. From left to right they are: Yap, Chuuk, Pohnpei, Kosrae. 

(Note if we had added the U.S. Territories of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands- they would have been just to the north of Micronesia). 

That's 179 down, 17 to go! 

Next Up: We're hitting up to the two 'unofficial/official' countries Taiwan and Kosovo